The Price of Sunshine: Open Dependency Courts and Their Risks to LGBTQ Child Abuse and Neglect Victims

The primary goal of child dependency law is to secure a safe and permanent placement for abused and/or neglected children that will be in the child’s best interest. States have identified LGBTQ child abuse victims as children who are particularly psychologically vulnerable to bullying and social opprobrium. For instance, the California Legislature has promulgated specific protections for LGBTQ youth in the dependency system. However, in my fifteen years of studying the jurogenic effects of open dependency court systems on abused and neglected children, I have rarely encountered legal literature that specifically looks at the effects on LGBTQ child victims of opening child protection hearings to the press and the public. For instance, the three most extensive state-level pilot project studies on the effects of open courts on abused children (the Minnesota Pilot Study, the Arizona Pilot Study, and the Connecticut Study) do not even discuss the effects of public and media attendance on the psychopathology of LGBTQ child abuse victims in those dependency court systems. The following analysis surveys the vast child and adolescent psychiatric evidence regarding the significant risks that LGBTQ youth suffer from the fear of disclosure and/or the actual publicity of their sexual orientation once child dependency proceedings are presumptively opened to the media and the public in general. As I have previously demonstrated elsewhere, the speculative increase in system accountability from opening the courts is substantially outweighed by the additional psychological damage that open systems cause for this already-vulnerable population. There is no longer any serious debate as to whether LGBTQ status, bullying, and suicide are causally, indeed inextricably, intertwined. For example, “A recent review of the research identified 19 studies linking suicidal behavior in lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) adolescents to bullying at school. . ..” Therefore, the risk that disclosure of identifying facts about LGBTQ child abuse victims in presumptively open child dependency proceedings, and the consequent dangers to those children, must be taken into consideration when policymakers determine the ambit of press and public access to those proceedings.


INTRODUCTION
The primary goal of child dependency law is to secure a safe and permanent placement for abused and/or neglected children that will be in the child's best interest. 2 States have identified LGBTQ child abuse victims as children who are particularly psychologically vulnerable to bullying and social opprobrium. 3 For instance, the California Legislature has promulgated specific protections for LGBTQ youth in the dependency system. 4 However, in my fifteen years of studying the jurogenic effects of open dependency court systems on abused and neglected children, 5 I have rarely encountered legal literature that specifically looks at the effects on LGBTQ child victims of opening child protection hearings to the press and the public. For instance, the three most extensive state-level pilot project studies on the effects of open courts on abused children (the Minnesota Pilot Study, 6 the Arizona Pilot Study, 7 and the Connecticut Study 8 ) do not even discuss the effects of public and media attendance on the psychopathology of LGBTQ child abuse victims in those dependency court systems.
The following analysis surveys the vast child and adolescent psychiatric evidence regarding the significant risks that LGBTQ youth suffer from the fear of disclosure and/or the actual publicity of their sexual orientation once child dependency proceedings are presumptively opened to the media and the public in general. 9 As I have previously demonstrated elsewhere, 10 the speculative increase in system accountability from opening the courts is substantially outweighed by the additional psychological damage that open systems cause for this already-vulnerable population.
There is no longer any serious debate as to whether LGBTQ status, bullying, and suicide are causally, indeed inextricably, intertwined. For example, "A recent review of the research identified 19 studies linking suicidal behavior in lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) adolescents to bullying at school. . .." 11 Therefore, the risk that disclosure of identifying facts about LGBTQ child abuse victims in presumptively open child dependency proceedings, and the consequent dangers to those children, must be taken into consideration when policymakers determine the ambit of press and public access to those proceedings. 12 145 146 JOURNAL OF HATE STUDIES [Vol. 11:145 I. DEMOGRAPHICS OF LGBTQ CHILD ABUSE VICTIMS IN

JUVENILE COURTS
The demographics of LGBTQ 13 children in the child dependency system are complex and nuanced. LGBTQ children include: • Young people who are open about being LGBTQ in all facets of their lives; • Young people who identify as LGBTQ but do not disclose those identities to other persons; 14 • Young people who come out as LGBTQ to their lawyers but ask that they not reveal those identities to others; • Young people who experience same-sex desire, engage in same-sex behaviors, or do not conform to gender norms, but do not personally identify as LGBTQ; • Young people who are not LGBTQ but are perceived to be so by their peers, families, or communities; and • Young people who are questioning their sexual orientation or gender identity. 15 The effects of publicity on each of these groups may be dramatically different. 16 Those LGBTQ child abuse victims who are completely open about their sexual orientation 17 may still not want the public in general to know about their abuse. Others may merely want a limited disclosure to potential caretakers so that special accommodations can be provided for their needs and safety. 18 Those abuse victims who identify as LGBTQ but who are in "transition" 19 toward disclosure are at severe risk from publicity since they may still not be ready to accept the public reaction to their new status. 20 Abuse victims who are not LGBTQ, but who are identified by their peers as such, may suffer greatly from the publicity, especially if there are any facts indicating same-sex abuse; this information may feed peers' and the community's false perceptions. Finally, those child abuse victims who are struggling and questioning their sexual orientation may become emotionally devastated if facts regarding their as-yet undecided sexual orientation and/or gender identification are disclosed. 21 In addition to the variety of sexual orientations and gender identities among LGBTQ child abuse victims, sub-groups also vary according to race, ethnicity, religion, and disabilities. 22 Indeed, sexual identity cannot be separated from cultural identity since it is a "complex, dynamic, and interactional process by which subjects construct their sexual identities in dialogue with existent cultural possibilities, and in the context of their everyday social relations." 23 For example, Latina/o LGBTQ children may live within in a Hispanic and/or religious culture in which disclosure can subject them to family ostracism, "losing friends, stigmatization in the school, verbal vio-The landscape of LGBTQ child abuse victims is further characterized by some youth who "simultaneously operate within marginalized racial and sexual statuses." 26 For example, Black LGBTQ children may not only have to use forms of cultural "code switching" when dealing with White culture; they must also switch their speech and mannerisms in an attempt to hide their sexual identity. 27 The juvenile dependency system cannot hope to understand the psychology of Black gay children without accounting for the intersectionality of their social and psychological status: Whether conceptualizing being Black and gay as interlocking, in opposition with one above the other, or as spatially significant, the narratives provided by the Black gay men. . .reveal that each characterization had implications for the relationship these men felt they shared with other Blacks, gays and the larger Black and gay communities. 28 Thus, these child abuse victims must psychologically chart a course through Black/White cultures, LGBTQ cultures, and the horror of also having been an abuse victim.
Since adolescents fear being perceived as different, it should come as no surprise that they fear peer and cultural reactions to previously undisclosed information, including information on their mental health and psychotropic drug use. In addition to fears by Black and Latino LGBTQ child victims about disclosure of the details of their abuse and of their sexual identity and orientation, they may fear reactions to disclosure of their required use of psychiatric drugs and thus may seek to keep it "secret in order to protect oneself from social teasing and taunting . . . ." 29 For example, "[s]tatements from African-American adolescents revealed greater negativity in stereotypes of people with mental illness. . .[and that] [f]amily norms. . .may lead African-American youths to use secrecy to a greater degree than whites to protect themselves." 30 Likewise, Latina/o children are "less likely than others to use follow-up [mental health] services outside their schools." 31 Further, Latina/os "use of antidepressants is likely to be interpreted as a sign of severe depression, being 'crazy' or weak, or as a sign of illicit drug use. Thus stigma is a prominent concern among racialethnic minority groups and a major contributor to lesser treatment involvement and lower adherence." 32 Since it is estimated that approximately twothirds of children in the juvenile court system have some form of mental health problem, 33 a substantial number of those children may fear disclosure of their mental health conditions or treatments. 34 Other groups of LGBTQ children may fear disclosure of their sexual orientation because of strict religious or cultural taboos. For example, gay Muslim children may face prejudice from their own families and communities, and the Qur'an has an explicit prohibition against homosexuality. 35 Thus, disclosure of LGBTQ status for Muslim child abuse victims "may be threatening at the social level, as it potentially exposes the individual to discrimination, and at the psychological level as it entails the assimilationaccommodation of gay identity within the self." 36 Coming out, or being outed by the child dependency system, is "construed as posing threats to a crucial dimension of their ethno-religious identity, namely 'izzat' (honour)." 37 Therefore, when child dependency judges who sit in presumptively open court systems, or even in closed ones, decide whether a dependency hearing should be opened or closed to the press and public, they must start to make much more sophisticated determinations of the risks of disclosure, and do so based upon the many variables inherent in that abused child's religious, cultural, and racial milieu.

II. BULLYING
LGBTQ youth are at grave risk of bullying. 38 Nationwide, approximately "84 percent of LGBTQ youth report verbal harassment," 25 percent physical harassment, and "up to 70 percent experience problems in school due to prejudice and discrimination based on sexual orientation . . . ." 39 Meanwhile, the most comprehensive study of gay bullying in California schools, which surveyed 230,000 students, found that "91 percent of students reported hearing students make negative comments based on sexual orientation. . . [and] 46 percent of students said their schools were not safe for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students." 40 LGBTQ bullying thus comprises a serious topic in an increasing number of court opinions. 41 The newest form of bullying, cyberbullying, 42 has a dramatically intense effect on boys who suffer "negative psychological, emotional, and behavioral outcomes" from the "taunting and rumor spreading involving homosexuality. . . ." 43 Effects can be similar for girls, who comprise a greater percentage of cyberbullying victims than boys and who are targets  THE PRICE OF SUNSHINE 149 of "name calling, rumor mongering. . .and sexual solicitation." 44 Bullying and cyberbullying are so pervasive that the White House recently hosted a conference to discuss such harassment, and forty-four states have anti-bullying legislation. 45 Thus, the significant risk to LGBTQ child abuse victims from publicity generated bullying is not illusory, but rather is manifest, 46 as "victimization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students in middle school and high schools is pervasive." 47

III. SUICIDE
Bullying and cyberbullying have resulted in several LGBTQ children committing suicide. 48 A new term, bullycide, refers to the intentional tormenting of gay students that results in their suicides as an avenue of escape. 49 Gay youth comprise "30% of all completed adolescent suicides," 50 and LGBTQ youth are "three times more likely than their peers to have attempted suicide. . .." 51 In addition, "[e]arlier age of disclosure of being gay. . .is associated with higher likelihood of suicide attempts" because younger child victims are "less able to deal with the psychosocial tasks of coming out in a hostile milieu . . . ." 52 In 2009-2010, children who were bullied about being gay committed suicide in Tehachapi, California, Houston, Texas, Greensburg, Indiana, Providence, Rhode Island, and in the states of New Jersey and Colorado. 53 A Utah study of youth suicide they found that "[s]ixty-three percent of decedents were involved with the juvenile court system." 54 Elsewhere, another child, before committing suicide, told his mother that [T]hey keep telling me this. . .this gay word, this gay, gay, gay. I'm tired of hearing it. They're telling me the same thing over and over. 55 Therefore, non-consensual publicity in open dependency courts regarding the sexual orientation of young child abuse victims may dramatically increase their risk of suicidal ideation and/or of suicide. 56 Other disclosures may also result in suicide. 57 This occurred in New Orleans, when an abused child's confidential HIV status during an open court child dependency hearing led to the child's commission of suicide.
The most serious risk to LGBTQ child abuse victims in the dependency system is non-consensual disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or sexual identity, because they are at their weakest psychologically during that phase of sexual questioning and discovery of self. 58 "LGBT youth and youth who were questioning their sexual orientation reported the highest levels of depression, suicidal feelings, and alcohol and marijuana use," 150 JOURNAL OF HATE STUDIES [Vol. 11:145 according to a 2011 study. 59 In addition, LGBTQ boys who receive the most bullying are most at risk of suicidal ideation and/or suicide. 60 In a Canadian longitudinal study of child abuse victims who might be called to testify in open court, the researchers found that abused children described the psychological stress from fearing public disclosure as an "arduous time," and those child victims had "[s]evere acting-out behaviors, depression or suicide attempts . . . ." 61 A frequent response by those abused children, when asked how to make the proceedings friendlier for abused children, was "closing the courtroom to the public." 62 IV. MEDIA OFTEN PUBLISH CHILD VICTIMS' IDENTIFYING DATA Several recent empirical studies have demonstrated that the media frequently publish information that identifies or leads to the identification of child sexual abuse, physical abuse, and emotional abuse victims. 63 In fact, "[i]dentifying information about the child victim (e.g. name of the child's street, school or a family member's full name [among other identifying data]) was published in 51 percent of articles covering child victimizations." 64 Shockingly, child victim identifiers were published in 37 percent of cases involving child sexual abuse and in 78 percent of cases involving physical and/or emotional neglect. 65 No newspaper in the U.S. has an ethics code that prohibits or warns reporters against publishing identifying information about all three types of child abuse victims appearing in child dependency proceedings: sexual abuse victims, physical abuse victims, and emotional abuse victims. 66 Therefore, it should not be a surprise that the media frequently provide identifying information about those abused children since doing so is not even considered unethical reporting under national and/or local media codes and norms. 67

V. MANY LGBTQ CHILD VICTIMS DESPERATELY ATTEMPT TO HIDE THEIR SEXUAL ORIENTATION FROM FAMILIES AND PEERS AND FEAR THAT DISCLOSURE OF FACTS ABOUT THEIR ABUSE WILL ALSO REVEAL THEIR SEXUAL IDENTITIES
Most victims of child abuse are profoundly fearful of publicity about their abuse, and approximately 58 percent of survivors delay disclosing their abuse until adulthood. 68 Child abuse victims are anxious about maintaining confidentiality in order to hide their embarrassment and shame from the intimate facts about their abuse. 69 Psychologists have long demonstrated that abused children's fears are often realized when their disclosure of abuse leads to "unsupportive responses or negative social reactions," which often exacerbate their anxiety and mental health problems caused by the original abuse. 70 LGBTQ child abuse victims face a double danger through both publicity of their sexual orientation and disclosure of their abuse and/or neglect. 71 They share the fear of humiliation, embarrassment, and shame with their heterosexual child abuse counterparts regarding the details of their child abuse, but they also risk disclosure of their sexual orientation at a time when they may not yet be prepared to announce publically their LGBTQ status. LGBTQ children are often "victimized further when they disclose their sexual orientation-to peers and adults, and are at risk of losing social support" at the time that support is critically necessary in relation to their child abuse. 72 Some gay youth use elaborate self-preservation and "masking" strategies to hide their sexual orientation in order to survive the school peer environment, including modifying their "clothing, speech, postures, interests, friends and demeanor." 73 Those LGBTQ child abuse victims thus not only fear disclosure of the intimate nature of their abuse, but also are extremely anxious that their sexual orientation or gender identity will somehow be directly or indirectly disclosed against their will during the open child dependency hearings.

VI. STATES LACK SUFFICIENT MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES TO TREAT
LGBTQ CHILD ABUSE VICTIMS WHEN THEIR PSYCHOPATHOLOGY IS EXACERBATED BY PRESUMPTIVELY OPEN DEPENDENCY SYSTEMS "One in five abused children needs mental health services." 74 The majority of abused children identified with mental disorders have "Major Depression [and] Anxiety Disorders," conditions which cannot be cured through short-term mental health services. 75 Approximately 30 percent of abused children in foster care have post-traumatic stress disorder, and they are eight times more likely to be taking psychotropic medications and utilize psychiatric services than children living with their own families. 76 Because "an individual's ability to overcome and thrive despite adversity reflects an individual's resilience or development of resiliency," 77 the LGBTQ population of abused children in the dependency system is at great risk of mental health trauma, as cumulative stress lowers their resiliency to ward off the effects of bullying and family and community opprobrium concerning their sexual orientation and identity.
Many abused and neglected LGBTQ child victims are caught in a psychological trap. First, many of the factors that assist victims in overcoming the most critical psychological consequences of victimhood do not exist in their world. Resiliency increases as the quality of "family support, and pos-itive school climate" increase. 78 In addition, protective factors have an additive or cumulate protective effect, as "each additional protective factor further reduces the impact of risk on the negative outcome. . . [and] the presence of more protective factors [is] associated with a linear decrease in victimization." 79 However, as already demonstrated, a large percentage of LGBTQ child abuse victims are also victims at school and have families that are intolerant toward their sexual orientation and identification.
LGBTQ child abuse victims are thus more at risk, since family, community, and peer networks are often not available for protection and comfort. More frequent and severe victimization occurs when youth lack "safe and secure environments (i.e., low-risk) that can serve as sanctuaries in which to cope with challenges . . . ." 80 Second, in addition to increased risk of serious mental health problems as caused by victimization and low resiliency, the frequency of bullying and social ostracism experienced by LGBTQ child abuse victims preconditions them to stress reactions that can be triggered by lesser and lesser degrees of stress: The stress sensitization or 'kindling' hypothesis proposes that individuals become sensitized to the life events that precipitate depression, and to the depressive episodes themselves, such that less stress is required to precipitate recurrences of depression than was required to precipitate the first onset. 81 The frequency and cumulative effects of bullying, combined with lack of family, peer, and community support, leave abused LGBTQ victims at greater risk from lesser stressors.
Despite the potential for serious psychological re-traumatization of LGBTQ child abuse victims by an open dependency court process, states lack sufficient mental health resources to treat this at-risk victim group. In light of current budget crises, many states have substantially cut mental health services for children. 82 For instance, the projected California budget for 2011-2012 did not increase funding for the State Department of Mental Health; rather it reduced by $861 million the General Fund allocation for Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment programs. 83 California's inadequate and outdated mental health services for abused children were exposed in the class action law suit, Katie A. v. Bonta, 84 in which a federal court ordered a radical change in the mental health treatment of these at risk children. The State of California Department of Social Services stated that in "recent years 92% of referrals have not received safety or change-oriented services, such as. . .therapeutic interventions." 85 Further, adolescents, the group of abused children most likely to be questioning their sexual orientation and identity, have the highest percentage utilization  THE PRICE OF SUNSHINE 153 rate of mental health services of any age group 86 at a time of diminishing state mental health availability. The U.S. Surgeon General has recognized that the child abuse system must provide sufficient mental health services to child abuse victims whose mental health problems continue long after a court case has been finalized: Child maltreatment has traditionally been thought of as a criminal justice issue. It is also very much a public health issue. . . The wrenching mental and physical health effects of child maltreatment continue for the child and the family long after he or she has been placed in a safe environment. 87 Because mental health services for children are severely strained, the Surgeon General listed improving "the infrastructure for children's mental health services including support for scientifically-proven interventions across professions" as one of the seven most important goals of United States mental health policy. 88 It is cruel for states to open their child dependency systems to the press and public before they at least have sufficient mental health services available to help treat both heterosexual and LGBTQ child abuse victims who suffer from the fear of publicity or from the actual publication of the intimate facts of their abuse and/or sexual identity. Thus, at least sufficient prophylactic health measures should be made available to this young group of victims before a state presumptively opens its child dependency courts to the press and public. An even better policy would be to avoid the exacerbated psychopathology to this young group by shielding them with a cloak of confidentiality in juvenile dependency proceedings.
CONCLUSION " [T]here are sound reasons to believe that publicity or fears about publicity cause harm to juvenile crime victims" and that they "will feel more embarrassment and shame if many people know about" the facts of their abuse. 89 The fears and potential psychological harm to LGBTQ child abuse victims is magnified by the additional fear of disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identification without their consent and the resultant potential bullying by peers and/or family, as well as potential community rejection. 90 Child dependency proceedings should not be presumptively open to the press and public. The potential for and/or actual publicity about the intimate facts of their child abuse and about the intimate personal decision regarding whether to make public their sexual orientation places heterosex-154 JOURNAL OF HATE STUDIES [Vol. 11:145 ual and, particularly, LGBTQ child abuse victims at great risk. 91 Dependency proceedings should only be opened if a juvenile court judge finds that a person or organization petitioning for access to the hearing has sufficiently demonstrated that the abused child will not be further psychologically damaged by openness, or if the child abuse victim provides informed written consent waiving confidentiality and permitting the media and public to attend. Placing the consent for openness with the child abuse victim will shield those children who want to avoid publicity, while at the same time providing those children who want to tell their stories in a public forum a means for accomplishing that goal 9. Abused and/or neglected LGBTQ children are equally at risk of disclosure in the delinquency system, not merely from having their cases transferred to adult court, but also from the particular placements and conditions of those placements should their delinquency petitions be sustained. It is estimated that 13 percent of detained juvenile delinquents are LGBTQ, that many detention facilities do not have professionals with adequate training or resources to properly care for LGBTQ delinquents, and that many LGBTQ children suffer physical, sexual, and psychological abuse while in those facilities.  86 CHILD WELF. 133, 140 (2006) ("Unless disclosure is required, no one should disclose information about sexual orientation or gender identity unless that person can identify a direct benefit to the youth."); Sarah E. Valentine, Traditional Advocacy For Nontraditonal Youth: Rethinking Best Interest For The Queer Child, 2008MICH. ST. L. REV. 1053, 1054(2008 (There are, of course, circumstances under which disclosure of a child's sexual orientation or gender identity should not be disclosed even if an adult thinks that it would benefit that child. The most obvious exception is when a child confidentially informs her attorney about her intimate secrets. If the attorney violates the attorney/client relationship, that disclosure can have a devastating impact on the already traumatized child and her ability to more quickly attempt to gain emotional equipoise in light of the abuse and/or neglect. "Any advocacy model allowing an attorney to substitute his or her own judgment as to what is in a queer child's best interest is potentially devastating for queer child clients. . .."). For a discussion of the effects of abused and neglected children's attorneys' violations of the duties of loyalty and confidentiality, see generally William LGBTQ" refers to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and children that are "questioning" gender identity and/or sexual orientation. Barbara Fedders, Coming Out For Kids: Recognizing, Respecting, And Representing LGBTQ Youth, 6 NEV. L. J. 774, 775 (2006) [hereinafter Fedders, Coming Out for Kids].
14. See Graziano & Wagner, supra note 7, at 49 (It is quite understandable that LGBTQ abuse and neglect victims may want to protect their sexual orientation and/or identify from their parents since in one study "90% identified a lack of parental support as a serious problem. . . .").
15. Graziano, at 102 (citing to Fedders, Coming Out for Kids, supra note 13, at 780). One study found that "[t]wenty-two percent of incarcerated youth self-identified as bisexual and 5percent self-identified as lesbian/gay. Girls, however, were 6 times as likely to identify as bisexual than boys and 3 times as likely to identify as homosexual compared to boys." Id. at 47. 16.
LGBTQ youth have provided a variety of reasons for keeping their sexual orientation and/or gender identity confidential, including "thinking people would neither understand nor accept them. . .fear of being judged or ridiculed. . .fear of being a victim of violence. . . [and] not having identified as LGB to themselves at the time." Anne Gallegos, Catherin Roller White, Caitlin Ryan, Kirk O'Brien, Peter J. Pecora & Preneka Thomas, Exploring the Experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Questioning Adolescents in Foster Care, 14 J. FAM. SOC. WORK 226, 230 (2011). LGBTQ youth have much to fear in the foster care system beyond the potential for abuse. Many child welfare systems lack sufficient training for prospective foster parents regarding LGBTQ youth. This can lead to foster parents' unwillingness to care for LGBTQ children or to a rejection of LGBTQ children living with foster parents, or both, which exacerbates the children's existing psychopathology "by failing to create a supportive environment." Jennifer A. Clements & Mitchell Rosenwald, Foster Parents' Perspectives on LGB Youth in the Child Welfare System, 19 J. GAY & LESBIAN SOC. SERV. 57, 58-59 (2008). There is also often a disparity between the amount of social worker training regarding the needs of LGBTQ youth between large and small communities. Lori E. SPRING 2011) [hereinafter A PLACE OF RESPECT] ("Sexual orientation" refers to a "person's emotional, romantic, and sexual attraction, to individuals of the same sex or of a different sex.") 18. Id. at 21 ("Developing an understanding of the stigma, rejection, and harassment that transgender and gender non-conforming youth commonly face and how it can negatively affect their psychosocial development and behavior can help group care staff to better meet these young person's needs and ensure their safety.") 19. Id. at 10 (The term "transition is often used to describe both the process and the time period when a transgender person starts publicly living in line with his or her core gender.") 20. Even within the more accepting or tolerant atmospheres found in many colleges and universities, 20 percent of those LGBTQ students, faculty, and staff interviewed in one study feared for their safety and "one out of two concealed their sexual orientation or gender identity to avoid intimidation, with LGBT people of color more likely than white LGBT people to do so." Lynn C. Holley, Nancy C. Larson, Madelaine Adelman & Jesús Treviño, Attitudes Among University Undergraduates Toward LGB and Five Ethnic/Racial Groups, 5 J.
LGBT YOUTH 79, 82 (2008). Furthermore, "sexual minority youth who are out to their heterosexual peers suffer more friendship loss and report higher levels of worry about the health of their existing friendship ties than do heterosexual students." Billie Gastic, Urban Students' Attitudes about Sexual Minorities across Intersections of Sex and Race/Ethnicity: Data from a Longitudinal Study, 9 J. LGBT YOUTH 42, 44 (2012). 21. Fedders, Coming Out for Kids, supra note 14, at 777 ("Young people may be unsure of whether their same-sex desires and sexual behaviors are indicative of a fixed identity as opposed to a temporary or experimental phase. They may be actively fighting their same-sex desires and in denial about their sexual behavior. Alternatively, they may be sure that they are sexually oriented toward people of the same sex but nevertheless feel culturally alienated from the terms "gay," lesbian," and "bisexual.").
LGBT YOUTH 1, 1 (2011) (One of the least studied groups is LGBT children with disabilities, who have been described as "members of multiple cultural minority groups" who experience multiple forms of oppression and have "multiple service needs involving disabilities. . . [and] identities."). Although all LGBT children with disabilities may suffer humiliation and harassment, LGBT youth who share the same disability (i.e. autism, Down syndrome, or particular physical or mental impairment) share similar unique experiences. LGBT YOUTH 262, 264-267 (2010) (One cannot, however, simply generalize about the effects on ethnic or racial minorities regarding either voluntarily "coming out" or involuntarily having one's gender identification or sexual preferences being made public. For instance, "being gay in a Puerto Rican family is not the same as being gay in a Mexican family" and being part of a group defined as a minority in one country, for example, Latinos in the mainland U.S., is not the same as that same person living in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, which although it is a U.S. unincorporated territory, is unlike most parts of the U.S. because of the former's majority Riqueño-Latino population). 25. Id. at 109-10; Cynthia L. Conley, Learning About a Child's Gay or Lesbian Sexual Orientation: Parental Concerns About Societal Rejection, Loss of Loved Ones, and Child Well Being, 58 J. HOMOSEXUALITY 1022, 1022(2011 ("Studies focusing specifically on parental reactions to learning that their children are gay or lesbian. . .have overwhelmingly revealed that parents tend to react in a negative fashion."); Id. at 1034 ("[P]arents' overall concern levels were higher for their gay sons than for their lesbian daughters. This finding is supported by the anecdotal information that society is far more accepting of lesbian women.").
26. Marcus Anthony Hunter, All the Gays are White and all the Blacks are Straight: Black Gay Men, Identity, and Community, 7 SEXUALITY 2013-14] THE PRICE OF SUNSHINE 161 RESEARCH & SOC. POL'Y 81, 82 (2010) [hereinafter Hunter, Black Gay Men]. 27. Id. at 82 ("Research on Black and Latino LGB individuals has shown they often confront homophobia in their racial/ethnic communities and alienation from their racial/ethnic identity in the LGB community."); see also Ilan H. Meyer, Prejudice, Social Stress, and Mental Health in Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Populations: Conceptual Issues and Research Evidence, 129 PSYCHOL. BULL. 674, 678 (2003) ways, Oct. 13, 2011, available at http:// www.cnn.com/2011/10/12/us/minneapolis-bullying-schools/ (During the show, which illustrated the widespread bullying of gay students in American schools, a student named Dylan said, "They would call me like gag and gross and say that I'm going to hell and stuff. It just makes you feel like you're the grossest person in the world." Another student, Kyle, described his life at school: "I had to use the bathroom. And I walk in the door, and these people were just watching me. They were just staring at me. I go into the stall. And then I hear laughing. I hear laughter. And I look up, and I have something dripping down my head. And someone was peeing on me." Another student stated: "Kids made me feel like I was the grossest person in the world. And they would just go against the walls and say here comes the he/she or here comes the trash. And they just made me feel gross. And I didn't feel safe at school. So I just left."); Sarah Kramer, Coming Out: Audio, Photos, Stories of Gay Teens, N.Y. TIMES May 23, 2011, available at http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/05/23/us/ 20110523-coming-out.html?_r=0 (Chronicling the coming out stories of over a hundred gay teens, with head quotations from those stories including, "My entire family trans-bashes me on a daily basis," "The shame of being bullied was too great," "I'm still in the closet," "I was the one who bullied him because I thought it helped me hide my own secret," "It took 37 stitches to fix the damage," "I couldn't go forward but I couldn't die," " 'She said to me: 'I know what you are and it's disgusting'," "I haven't spoken to or seen my parents since," "No one there to stop me from taking that knife into my hands," and "I had moved 3343km to acceptance." 55. Walker, Homophobic Bullying, supra note 53, at 2 ("Some victims of bullying have even attempted suicide rather than continue to endure harassment and punishment"); FACTS FOR FAMILIES, supra note 51, at 1. Studies have also indicated that victims of bullies are much greater risk of suicide ideation than other students. Ian Rivers & Nathalie Noret, Participant Roles in Bullying Behavior and Their Association With Thoughts of Ending One's Life, 31 CRISIS 143, 144 (2010). In addition, the rate of suicide attempts among those children in the child welfare systems is higher than that for children in the general population. Stavros P. Kiriakidis, Bullying and Suicide Attempts among Adolescents Kept in Custody, 29 CRISIS 216, 216 (2008). Furthermore, "childhood trauma may predispose individuals to suicidal behavior." Ana Sfoggia, Marco Antonio Pacheco & Rodrigo Grassi-Oliveira, History of Childhood Abuse and Neglect and Suicidal Behavior at Hospital Admission, 29 CRISIS 154, 154 (2008). 56.
LGBTQ child abuse victims must be understood as having few psychological protective mechanisms available to ameliorate the cumulative and multifaceted attacks on their mental tranquility. See Jennifer Langhinrichsen-Rohling, Dorian A. Lamis & Patrick S. Malone, Sexual Attraction Status and Adolescent Suicide Proneness: The Roles of Hopelessness, Depression, and Social Support, 58 J. HOMOSEXUALITY 52, 53 (2010) ("For many youth, the process of acknowledging that one is gay and sharing that information with peers, friends, and family is considered stressful. Moreover, experiencing same-sex attractions can impact the availability of resources that are available to the adolescent with a problem; in turn, these narrowed options can increase the probability of suicidal behavior in these youth.") Id. at 56, 61-62. (noting that increased stressors related to LGBTQ suicide include: "increased likelihood of experiencing other related stressors; increased internal conflict regarding one's sexuality; greater levels of victimization; reduced peer support; and/or increased family discord related to the adolescent's sexual orientation and dating behavior. . ., and hopelessness and depression"); see also Joan Rosenbaum Asarnow, Larry J. Baraff, Michael Berk, Charles S. Grob & Mona Devich-Navarro, An Emergency Department Intervention for Linking Pediatric Suicidal Patients to Follow-Up Mental Health Treatment, 62 PSYCH. SERV. 1303, 1308(2011 (pointing out that although "we currently lack treatments with clear evidence documenting efficacy for reducing suicide attempt rates by adolescents. . .," follow-up outpatient treatment after emergency treatment does appear to be a promising development.  538-539 (2003-2004). 58.
LGBTQ youth are caught in a trap: if they disclose their sexual identity, they fear the negative consequences; however, their inability to share their deepest concerns leads to isolation where they cannot benefit from those who could help them cope. See Michael Sadowski, Stephen Chow & Constance P. Scalon, Meeting the Needs of LGBTQ Youth: A "Relational Assets" Approach, 6 J. LGBT YOUTH 174, 175 (2009) ("Isolation is one of the experiences gay and lesbian youth have reported consistently in research published over the last two decades. . .[and] more than 95 percent of gay and lesbian youth in one study experienced 'feelings of being alone, of being the only one who feels this way, of having no one to share feelings with.' ").
59. Russell et al., supra note 47, at 224. 60. Id. at 227 ("Population-based studies have consistently shown that students who identify or are perceived to be LGBT are at dramatically higher risk for a wide range of health and mental health concerns including sexual health risk, substance abuse, and suicide, compared with their heterosexual peers."); Id. at 228 (observing that LGBT children have varying levels of persistence, which helps them cope with negative social reactions; one study found that the strongest variables that affect resilience are "higher self-esteem, a higher sense of personal mastery, and greater perceived social support. . .."); see also Arnold H. Grossman, Anthony R.